Giving my mother the world, one trip at a time
This story is part of a Mother's Day series by TNP
If there’s anyone who deserves the world, it is my mother.
Growing up in a traditional Asian household, there were no loud proclamations of love. Rather, love was in the little things.
Love was regularly taking me to the bookstore to pick out a new novel as a child, igniting my lifelong passion for reading and shaping me into the writer I am today. Love was home-cooked meals, of which hours of toiling and hard work went into. Love was standing up for me and my brother any time she felt we had been taken advantage of or bullied.
Love is impossible to sum up in just a few lines, because it turns out these little things weren't little at all.
Witnessing my mother's selflessness, constantly putting the needs of others before her own and making countless sacrifices for the family, fills me with an overwhelming desire to give her the world — figuratively and literally.
In addition to my annual solo trips, equally cherished and a yearly must-do are our mother-daughter getaways.
We went to Taipei, where she delightedly devoured a basket of close to 10 xiao long baos on her own (this is still a running joke in my family).
We laughed till we cried in Bangkok, bonding over inside jokes and newfound memories.
We posed with the cheeky phallic-shaped statues at Jeju Love Land, which most people probably wouldn’t visit with a parent (not us!).
We visited the Korean Demilitarised Zone, a particularly unique experience that remains etched in our minds.
Our latest escapade took us to Penang, where watching my mother eat and shop to her heart’s content left me with a profound sense of joy.
Maybe love is as simple as seeing your favourite person in the whole world happy and wanting to give them the best.
I look forward to more adventures together, both overseas and on this journey called life.
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